AUTHOR ARCHIVES

Matt Ford

December 1, 2017
Michael Flynn, the former national-security adviser, said he is cooperating with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s wide-ranging investigation after pleading guilty on Friday to making false statements to the FBI about his contacts with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. “My guilty plea and agreement to cooperate with the Special Counsel’s Office reflect...

October 16, 2017
Cyrus Vance Jr., Manhattan’s district attorney, is facing intense public scrutiny for a series of prosecutorial decisions in cases involving the Trump family and Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. Multiple stories have emerged about how lawyers connected to those figures have donated to Vance’s campaigns, along with the implicit suggestion that...

September 25, 2017
The FBI’s latest crime report isn’t heartening. Murders in the United States rose by almost 9 percent last year, the FBI reported Monday, mirroring similar increases in other forms of violent crime. The homicide spike is one of the sharpest one-year upticks since the Great American Crime Decline in the...

September 25, 2017
The Trump administration rolled out a new version of its controversial travel ban on Sunday, permanently restricting entry into the United States from eight countries just hours before part of the previous ban would have expired. Five of the affected countries—Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen—fell under the previous ban....

September 17, 2017
A federal judge in Illinois blocked the Justice Department from denying grant money to sanctuary cities on Friday, handing the Trump administration another defeat in its efforts to crack down on jurisdictions that oppose federal immigration policy. Judge Harry D. Leinenweber issued a preliminary injunction to block the policy change...

September 13, 2017
For most Americans, the grand jury is a mystery. Television series like Law & Order and films like Twelve Angry Men have branded regular jury trials onto the national cultural psyche: Many Americans could easily describe what the courtroom setup looks like, and the role each participant typically plays. Not...

August 2, 2017
President Trump’s sudden ouster of FBI Director James Comey in May set off a legal and political conflagration that eventually led to the appointment of a special counsel. The confirmation process for Christopher Wray, Trump’s chosen replacement for Comey, could not have been less controversial by comparison. The Senate voted...

July 21, 2017
President Trump is exploring steps to curtail Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s criminal investigation into the president’s campaign and business dealings, inching the country closer to uncharted constitutional waters. The New York Times reported Thursday that Trump’s private legal team is scouring the backgrounds of Mueller and his prosecutors for potential...

July 21, 2017
President Trump’s extraordinary broadside this week against Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Special Counsel Robert Mueller raised eyebrows across the nation’s capital. But it’s unclear whether it will affect how either man performs his day-to-day job. The president expressed frustration with both men, as well as with other top federal...

July 20, 2017
President Trump strongly criticized Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the upper ranks of the Justice Department on Wednesday, telling The New York Times he would never have chosen Jeff Sessions as attorney general if he knew Sessions was going to recuse himself from the Russia investigation. The president delivered the...